Jeffrey Skidmore, Ex Cathedra – Roth: A Time To Dance & Other Choral Works (2016) [Hyperion FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Jeffrey Skidmore, Ex Cathedra – Roth: A Time To Dance & Other Choral Works (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:11:48 minutes | 658 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: hyperion-records | Booklet, Front Cover | © Hyperion Records

Alec Roth’s new oratorio, A Time to Dance, is a celebration of times and seasons. Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra, who gave the premiere of the work in 2012, recreate the sheer exuberance of that live performance on this recording. The oratorio is paired with Roth’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (Hatfield Service) and Men & Angels, a clever setting of John Donne’s Antiphon “Praised be the God of love.”

Composer Alec Roth may be UK-based and of Irish/German descent, but it’s America that provides the musical heritage for his 2012 cantata A Time to Dance, recorded here for the first time by Ex Cathedra.
The hour-long A Time to Dance was written to mark the 50th anniversary of the Summer Music Society of Dorset and has a warmly celebratory cast, the English texts rendered not just singably but with a palpable humanity, the latter impression reinforced by period-instrument accompaniment from Ex Cathedra members. The four soloists mark out the passing seasons. The other pieces are somewhat surplus to requirements, but no one would want to miss Men and Angels for unaccompanied choir, to an antiphonal text by George Herbert. A small treasure of contemporary British music.

Tracklist:
01 – A Time to Dance: Processional ‘Times and Seasons’
02 – A Time to Dance: Prologue ‘Sunrise’
03 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Awake
04 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Infant joy
05 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Dancing on the hill-tops
06 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Dance there
07 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Nothing is so beautiful
08 – A Time to Dance, Part 1 ‘Spring Morning’: Let them love
09 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: In Summer’s heat
10 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: A something
11 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: Thirsty fly
12 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: Little fly
13 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: Come, let us go
14 – A Time to Dance, Part 2 ‘Summer Noon’: Give all to love
15 – A Time to Dance, Part 3 ‘Autumn Evening’: O Autumn
16 – A Time to Dance, Part 3 ‘Autumn Evening’: Humdrum
17 – A Time to Dance, Part 3 ‘Autumn Evening’: Autumnal
18 – A Time to Dance, Part 3 ‘Autumn Evening’: Fall, leaves, fall
19 – A Time to Dance, Part 3 ‘Autumn Evening’: The Evening Star
20 – A Time to Dance, Part 4 ‘Winter Night’: Deep midnight
21 – A Time to Dance, Part 4 ‘Winter Night’: Snowflakes
22 – A Time to Dance, Part 4 ‘Winter Night’: Dregs
23 – A Time to Dance, Part 4 ‘Winter Night’: A glee for Winter
24 – A Time to Dance, Part 4 ‘Winter Night’: Lights out
25 – A Time to Dance: Epilogue ‘Sunrise’
26 – A Time to Dance: After-dance ‘Proper Exercise’
27 – Magnificat and Nunc dimittis ‘Hatfield Service’: Magnificat
28 – Magnificat and Nunc dimittis ‘Hatfield Service’: Nunc dimittis
29 – Men and Angels, ‘Praised be the God of love’